Where is this all heading?

26th September 2011

Issue 34/2011

Newsline

As reported in Connected last week :

"Online retailer Kogan has expanded its electronics range to include Canon, Nikon, Apple and Samsung products for less than Australian recommended retail prices.

Entrepreneur Ruslan Kogan is prepared to go head-to-head with retailers such as Harvey Norman and JB Hi-Fi by offering significant discounts on branded electronics.

According to Kogan, consumers will be offered considerably discounted prices by "cutting out the middlemen" and sourcing the products higher up in the supply chain and by saving on the overheads associated with traditional retail stores."

Hopefully major brand suppliers will convince their principals to adopt world wide export parity pricing, otherwise retailers,suppliers and all supporting services in our industry are going to suffer even more! Those suppliers who are able to demonstrate this will be the winners in our market.

New Work Health and Safety Act

PMA attended last week, an information course run by the ARA Retail Institute on the new Act due to be introduced nationally in January 2012.

A full report is included below however you MUST become familiar with your obligations:

* 50% of retail workforce are young part timers who are twice as likely to get injured.

*Directors/owners of business's are now personally liable for their business complying with the new act (including staff,visitors,customers).

* Directors/owners now must be seen to be proactive in complying with the new act."Ignorance is not a defence".

*Breaches of the act attract fines from $100K for individuals ,$500K for business's and up to $600K for individuals for "reckless conduct"

More will certainly follow on this issue .

Finally don't forget Tuesday nights NSW Industry meeting, there is nothing like getting together with your peers to work through current issues and see how others are dealing with the challenges of todays business environment,

For the next month, Glynn Lavender will be writing the Newsline editorial.

Cheers

Peter Rose

In This Issue

$799 of free value for all PMA members

Camera Recycling has many benefits

PMA Australia member survey

Australian Students can go back to work - legally

The ARA helps your managers manage

PMA Calendar 2011

Your PMA Australia Executive

National Chairperson-Richard Robertson
richardr@teds.com.au

DIMA International President

Phil Gresham

philip@fotofast.com.au

Eastern Region TVP

and NSW Chairperson

John Ralph

jrcamerahouse@bigpond.com

WA, SA, NT, QLD TVP

and QLD Chairperson

Andrew Mason

print@photocontinental.com.au

TAS Chairperson

Tim Jones

tim@perfectprints.com.au

VIC Chairperson

Jeff Crowley

jeff.crowley@fujifilm.com.au

SA Chairperson

Paul Atkins

paul@atkins.com.au

WA Chairperson

Murray Gibbs

murray@ggch.com.au

Director of Australian Activities

Peter Rose

prose@pmai.org

Australian Directors for PMA

John Paxton

jpaxton@paxtons.com.au

Len Sandler

len.sandler@starshots.com.au

PPFA Chairperson

Ormond Williams

osgood@bigpond.net.au

APCI Chairperson

Paul Atkins

paul@atkins.com.au

PSPA Chairperson

Paul Dawson

pd@hydrophotographics.com.au

PIEA Chairperson

Gale Spring

g.spring@rmit.edu.au

PMA Australia Office

02 9454 2444

pmaaustralia@pmai.org

Editor

Glynn Lavender

pmaaustralia@pmai.org

Renewing members get $799 value class free with 2012 membership

Last week Fujifilm USA & PMA ran a free webinar on the benefits for stores of running classes, seminars, workshops and tours. It was very well attended and certainly showed that stores who put the effort in are reaping great rewards from running these events. What stops most stores from getting involved is the time and effort it takes to put together a good educational program.

The big announcement from the webinar is below - renew your PMA membership before October 31st and get a kick start to your training program with ten FREE classes - ready, with a bit of personalised tweaking, for you to launch your own class series. There is nothing stopping you now!

Another great benefit of being a PMA member!

PMA Member Press Release:

The Worldwide Community of Imaging Associations, has launched CliQ Academy, a series of highly effective photo classes for photo specialty retailers to use in their shops. Photo educators Mark Comon of Paul's Photo, Torrance, Calif., and Mike Woodland of Dan's Camera City, Allentown, Pa., have assembled 10 tried-and-tested beginner-level classes to launch this progrm. These classes are available free to 2012 PMA members for a limited time.

"Offering photo classes in your retail location is one of the hottest industry trends in the industry, and is creating huge customer loyalty and equally huge revenue," says Chad Munce, group executive, PMA. "Retailers offering photo classes tend to have more repeat customers as well as sell more to those customers. Developing a good photo class, however, can be a daunting task and quite frankly too time consuming for most business owners. PMA understands and has launched one of the most valuable training resources in our history."

The CliQ Academy Basic Photo Classes are a series of 10 beginner-level photo classes you can start offering your customers right away. This amazing collection of PowerPoint presentations, class handouts, quizzes, assignments, and support materials are now being made available to PMA members.

The CliQ Academy Basic Photo Classes are available only to PMA members for $799. PMA members renewing their PMA membership before Oct. 31, 2011 will receive a free download of the introductory 10 Basic Photo Classes. This package is also available on DVD for a $9.95 shipping and handling fee.

Camera Recycling has many benefits for your store

Since June 2010 at the PMA Digital Life Expo, when Nittram Photographics officially launched, CameraRecycle Australia, this voluntary eco-friendly recycling programme for old, unwanted and broken cameras and accessories, has quietly gained some strong Industry support.

From its humble beginnings just over 12-months ago now has nearly 100 stores Australia wide participating and benefiting from this program.

These retailers have beenset up as "Recycle Points" allowing consumers to bring their old, unwanted and broken cameras into their stores and simply deposit them in a recycle box. Once full, this box is returned to Camera Recycle Australia for reuse and recycling.

Tim Gledhill, CameraRecycle Australia's Managing Director said "As a leading camera repair and servicing company we wanted to do something extremely positive for the community and for the environment, especially as many consumers adopt new technologies. The CameraRecycle Australia initiative allows us to prevent cameras, batteries and accessories ending up in landfill where they can cause pollution by slowly breaking down and leaking chemicals into the surrounding soil. By recycling them, you protect the environment and assist manage the environmental impacts in a socially responsible manner.

We want to contribute to the bigger outcome, and get specialty photographic stores involvement Australia wide, after all it's not our future we have to worry about, it's all those that follow in our footsteps."

Not all cameras are recycled; some that require minor repairs and maintenance have been used to help promote photography to those in need. Recently this included the donation of a number of cameras to the City of Port Phillip to allow a local photographer to host a series of free photography night walks around the City of Port Phillip in Victoria. The two hour walks toured unique places and spaces of Port Phillip where attendees could photograph the local icons. According to Mayor Rachel Powning. "We wanted as many people as possible to be involved and we didn't want the expense of camera equipment to prevent people from joining the tour. Gratefully Camera Recycle Australia - have provided us with loan digital cameras, so no one need miss out."

Tim Gledhill, also advised that other similar initiatives including one with Brimbank City Council who are conducting a community photography walk on Friday 14 October, are being loaned cameras for the day. Tim said, "It's good for the community, helps promote photography and great for the environment."

So how do retailers become involve, well the first thing they should know is it costs retailer nothing, nil, zip....to participate. They simply register to become a "Recycle Point" and receive a full complimentary package of materials including recycle boxes, pre-paid mailing stickers, posters and Frequently Asked Question information sheets to assist and inform all staff in-store about the recycling initiative. Stores can also benefit from free publicity in their local community by raising the awareness of their store as a CameraRecycle Australia Recycle Point.

What's more Tim advised other initiatives are in place that can further benefit participating retailers including a soon to be released a recycling app for Windows Phone 7 as a free download. To be called 'WasteNot' this will be built on the National Waste Management Database to provide users with information on the closest CameraRecycle Recycle Point, thus helping drive people to participants stores.

For further information on CameraRecycle Australia please contact:

CameraRecycle Australia Tim Gledhill

Unit 15, 41-49 Norcal Road,

Nunawading Victoria 3131

Phone: 1300 Ozcycle (1300 69 29 25)

Email: admin@camerarecycle.com.au

Web: www.camerarecycle.com.au

Check out this newspaper article about Bundaberg Camera House and their involvement in the Camera Recycling Program - get involved and TELL your local press - they are always looking for stories and you may get some great free publicity for your store.

Camera Recycle Australia

PMA Australia Member Survey

You should have recently received an email re PMA activities in Australia.

As a member of PMA, your input is extremely valuable in determining both
our future direction, and the activities that you judge as being important to you and/or to the overall industry.

This information will provide the data, to allow the PMA Australian executive to make informed decisions on your behalf.

We all know the Industry has been through massive change,your association needs to be 'in step" with that change.

If you have not already filled it out (it takes just 5 minutes) I would very much appreciate your taking the time to complete this most important survey.

You can access the survey here

PMA logo

Australian Students can go back to work - legally!

The National Independent Retailers Association (NIRA) welcomed today's decision by Fair Work Australia to continue to allow full time secondary students to work for a minimum time of 90 minutes per shift.

The decision by the Vice President was more restrictive than the variation sought by the National Retail Association (NRA) but goes a long way to free up the opportunities for students and small retailers.

Specifically the draft order would see:
The minimum daily engagement of a casual be three hours provided that the minimum engagement period for an employee will be one hour and thirty minutes if all of the following circumstances apply:
a) the employee is a full time secondary school student; and
b) the employee is engaged to work between the hours of 3.00 pm and 6.30 pm on a day which they are required to attend school; and
c) the employee agrees to work, and a parent or guardian of the employee agrees to allow the employee to work, a shorter period than 3 hours; and
d) employment for a longer period than the period of the engagement is not possible either because of the operational requirements of the employer or the unavailability of the employee."

NIRA Director, Robert Mallett said that 'it is pleasing to see that FWA has recognised some long held views when they say in their decision that they are "satisfied that if shorter periods of engagement are available then employers may be more prepared to hire school students after school"'.

'It is a fact that for a significant number of people in employment, their first job was in retail and that opportunities for students to work, albeit for a short period of time, gives them a significant head start when seeking further employment.'

The value of work can not be underestimated and this too was recognised in a House of Representatives Standing Committee Report which records that there is a general consensus that young people's participation in some form of work while at school holds an inherent value. The report states that combining school and work can:
· Enhance a student's confidence and self esteem;
· Contribute to their financial well-being;
· Facilitate the development of social networks;
· Allow students to gain useful knowledge and independence and exercise greater responsibility and self-reliance;
· Instil a work ethic and attitude, and
· Enable students to develop work and organisational skills, including time management skills.

Mr Mallett said that 'It is a pity that there has been so much opposition by the union to the proposal to lessen the minimum number of hours a student may work however this decision will bring a huge sigh of relief to young people and small business owners alike'.

'Now that FWA have seen the light when it comes to appropriate working hours, it is time they had another look at the Sunday and public holiday penalty payments. Australian retailers work in a 24/7/52 environment; penalty rates of 100% and 150% are killers when it come to small businesses competing in the bricks and mortar retail space.'

The ARA helps your managers manage

CERTIFICATE IV IN RETAIL

AND

DIPLOMA OF RETAIL MANAGEMENT

ENROLMENTS NOW OPEN NATIONALLY

Are you a passionate retail professional looking for a nationally accredited qualification?

ARA Retail Institute's accredited retail training is designed and delivered by retail industry experts.

Today's world of retail is not as we know it and it is crucial that retailers have the necessary knowledge and skills to be able to compete in what is now a global market. The ARA Retail Institute's Certificate IV and the Diploma of Retail Management has been specifically designed and developed by retail industry experts.

Places Available for October Commencement

Melbourne - Diploma $375 enrolment fee*

CBD - 5 places available

Melbourne - Certificate IV in Retail Management $250 enrolment fee*

CBD - 3 places available

Sydney - Diploma 2 x $637 tuition fees*

CBD - 4 Places available

Newcastle - Diploma 2 x $637 tuition fees*

10 places available

Wollongong - Diploma 2 x $637 tuition fees*

10 places available

Adelaide - Diploma $410 enrolment fee*

CBD - 5 places available

Adelaide- Certificate IV in Retail Management $470 enrolment fee*

CBD - 3 places available

ENROL NOW Up to 90% Government funding is available*

To learn more about ARA Retail Institute's Certificate IV in Retail and to register click here

For further detail on the Diploma of Retail Management and to register click here

To discuss the Certificate IV in Retail or Diploma of Retail Management in more detail please contact:

Paul Cook (03) 8660 3333 training@retail.org.au

* Applies to eligible participants. Ex GST

PMA Calendar 2011

Tue Sept 27: PMA NSW Second Quarterly Review

North Ryde

Wed Sept 28: PPFA Meeting Brisbane

Tue Oct 11: PMA VIC Meeting

Mon Oct 24: PMA at Nikon AIPP Event

Hilton Hotel, Adelaide

Tue Nov 8: PMA WA Golf Day

Burswood Golf Club, Perth

Tue Nov 29: PMA NSW Xmas Function

South Steyne Floating Restaurant, Darling Harbour

Wed Dec 7: PMA VIC Xmas Function

Carlton Brewhouse, Melbourne